[Deathpenalty] death penalty news----worldwide

[Rick Halperin]

June 2


CHINA:

Rights groups calls for execution moratorium


A French consortium campaigning against rights violations in China have
issued a call for a global moratorium on capital punishment during the
2008 Beijing Olympic Games.

Former justice minister Robert Badinter, who was a driving force behind
France's 1981 abolition of the death penalty, led the call by rights
groups.

The groups include Amnesty International, the League of Human Rights and
the press freedoms group Reporters Without Borders.

Mr Badinter says the call is not just aimed at Chinese authorities.

He says executions in all parts of the wrold must be halted during the
games.

Amnesty International says China executes more people every year than the
rest of the world combined and uses capital punishment for non-violent
crimes such as embezzlement and graft.

(source: Radio Australia)